Sen. Richard Colburn, R-37-Mid-Shore, has a request in to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to extend oyster season until April 30.I only have a little problem with this. Given that the oyster season started Oct. 1, 2013, I find it hard to believe that the oyster fleet actually lost 45 days to weather even in this stormy winter, given that Chesapeake Bay is not the Bering Sea. I have a feeling this 45 days is inflated to get a little extra fishing time in. But what really gets my goat:
The season is set to close at the end of March, but severe weather and freezing conditions, including ice on the Chesapeake Bay, for much of the winter have at times made it difficult for watermen to work.
Colburn said the season is traditionally extended if there are enough lost days that watermen couldn’t work. He estimated some watermen lost up to 45 days of work because of the weather.
Meanwhile, DNR announced Tuesday that it will open specific oyster harvest reserve areas on Friday, March 7, after requests from county oyster committees.What is it about Maryland and Virginia that makes them give the watermen the oysters that they are holding in reserve to help build up the population at a time when oyster abundance in Chesapeake Bay is somewhere around 1% of it's pre-fishing abundance?
The areas, which will be marked by buoys, will be open Monday through Friday until March 31 from sunrise until 3 p.m. There’s a minimum cull size of 3 inches and harvest isn’t to exceed 15 bushels a day with a 30 bushel limit per boat.
In the Chester River, Blunt, Coppers Hill, Devils Playground and Horse Race oyster harvest reserve areas will be open to hand tongs and divers only.
In the Choptank River, the Howell Point Addition Oyster Harvest Reserve, except the oyster sanctuary area, will be open to hand tongs, divers and sail dredges. Also, La Trappe Creek Oyster Harvest Reserve will be open to hand tongs only.
In the South River, the Brewer Oyster Harvest Reserve will be open to hand tongs. Bramleigh Creek Oyster Harvest Reserve, in the Wicomico River, will also be open to hand tongs.
Time for the Fritz plan. Strop the harvest of "wild" oysters for 5 years, and maybe 10, to see if natural reproduction of oysters in the absence of fishing can allow the population to rebound. If it can't, go ahead and declare it a dead fishery and plant something that will grow.
First you must know a little about what your talking about before you say close the fisherie and that you doubt their was that many days missed, the truth of the matter is this, loads of the natural oyster bars that are protected from the wind on most days have been taken from the watermen the ones who have spent day in and day out working the area no matter how bad the catch because they knew this would help clean the bottom and the oysters would rehit upon the freshly claned shells, As the oysters rebound in these areas the powers to be shut them down to the local watermen (case in point ST.MARY'S RIVER ) A GOOD PORTION OF THIS RIVER HAS BEEN CLOSED TO THE WATERMEN , and another portion has been applied for by people who want to lease the bottom, bottom that the watermen have worked and cleaned with very little profit for the time but as the area starts putting out good numbers they want to close it, THE TRUTH IS IF IT STAYS CLOSED THE OYSTERS WILL NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT BEING CULTIVATED ( turned and cleaned by watermen culling ) as they do on a regular basis as they oyster.So as for areas that can be worked while the wind blows daily, and haven't been froze over this winter,theirs not many left that have not been taken from the watermen.
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